Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a recovery and respite plan for unpaid carers.

We have no plans to publish a specific recovery and respite plan for carers. However, the white paper ‘People at the Heart of Care’ sets out the Government’s strategic approach to empower unpaid carers to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. We will invest up to £25 million to work with the sector on improving the services provided to support unpaid carers. We expect that this funding will identify and test new and existing initiatives, which could include respite and breaks, peer group and wellbeing support and how these could be combined to maximise the impact.

The Better Care Fund (BCF) will also be used to support carer breaks and respite services. The BCF Framework for 2022/23 will be published shortly and will ask that all local BCF partnerships set out how funding is used to support unpaid carers.

On 13 May 2022, I wrote to local authorities on the importance of respite support for carers and to understand any challenges in getting these services regaining full capacity.

Additionally, the Chancellor recently announced a package of support to help with the cost of living. Unpaid carers in low-income households will benefit from the Means-Tested Benefit Cost of Living Payment, and those living in the same household as the disabled person for whom they care will benefit from the disability Cost of Living Payment, while families with a pensioner in the household will benefit from the Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.